Video: Silent Installation of a Windows PowerChute Business Edition Agent

With a normal, non-silent installation it is usually necessary to respond to prompts during the installation. Silent installations do not prompt for input because they already have the answers.

Step 1: Creating a Silent Installation Answer File

Remove all components of PowerChute from your working computer.

Copy the bin\agent folder from the PowerChute CD to a local folder such as C:\agent. Note: if installing from a downloaded copy unzip the pcbesetup.exe file. The unzipped files have the Agent directory and the setup.exe.

Launch a command prompt by selecting the Windows start button and then Run, and typing command in the box. Click OK.

Make sure that a UPS is attached to the machine.

At the command prompt, type<agent path>setup.exe -r
e.g. C:\agent\setup.exe -r
-r records the answers you provide during the installation process.

During the installation, select the option to have PowerChute automatically detect the UPS. Then, during the silent installations, the UPS will be detected even if it is on a different port.

The installation creates a file named setup.iss (in the \Windows folder). Search to find it, if necessary. Copy it to the agent folder you created in step 2 above.

Step 2: Performing a Silent Installation

The silent installation uses the answer file you created in the previous section.

Copy the entire agent folder (containing the setup.iss file) to the computer where the silent installation is to be performed.

Alternatively, you could copy the folder to a network drive and map to that drive from each installation computer. See an example involving a mapped drive W: below in step 3.

Launch a command prompt by selecting the Windows start button and then Run, and typing command in the box. Click OK.

You can also use the -m argument to log the results in an SMS file whose name is status.mif.
e.g. C:\agent\setup.exe -s -m

To determine when the silent installation has completed, leave the command prompt window open until the prompt displays again (e.g. C:\agent>). It might take several minutes.

Close the command prompt window.

NOTE:If PowerChute Business Edition has been downloaded from APC.com you will need to launch pcbesetup.exe to uncompress the installation folder/files to run the silent installation. The needed files are uncompressed on Windows OS to the system default temp folder. For assistance access these files please review the attached video "Locating the Uncompressed PowerChute Business Edition Installation Files".